the process became infamous during the 2000 race between george w. bush and al gore. gore won the popular vote. but bush won the electoral college after a bitter legal battle. so, the fight for the white house comes down to a handful of states where the candidates are focusing the bulk of their time and resources. ohio getting the most attention. frequent campaign stops and tons of television ads. >> it's time for a new economic patriotism. >> too many americans are struggling to find work in today's economy. >> reporter: the obama campaign has spent more than $40 million on ads in ohio since may 1st. the romney campaign, more than $20 million. recent polling shows that in three, critical battleground states, president obama's in the lead. but the romney campaign says their internal polling in those states shows a much tighter race. >> they're going to have to plant the flag in ohio and fight like crazy. >> reporter: but romney's path to victory is shrinking. this week, abc news shifted ohio from the toss-up column to ohio. mitt romney would need to win nearly all of